I am here, AND I have internet. What more could I want?

So, hopefully this will be the first blog post of many. So far, I've been in Kenya for about three weeks, and been with the program for about three days, maybe four. Not able to bear the thought of leaving their little precious, Mom and Dad escorted me across the world, and spent the first two weeks helping me acclimate to everything with a nice safari, after which they left me with the head of anNGO with whom I may end up working after my semester here. The safari was great, and included countless species of animals at all points of life and death. Checkfacebook soon for pics (photo credit: mom).

Then, I went and visited Kinyatta Village and one of Nairobi's outskirts, Mlolongo, where I had my first bucket shower and poop in a hole. It was pretty cool to go to Kinyatta, where I was welcomed by about half of the village that had prepared a dance for me, and then we had this great big ceremony where I handed out stuff that I had brought with me like secondhand clothes and school supplies. It was great to be able to help people, and pretty cool to see my things being used the next day, but I was pretty disillusioned by the position that they put me in (I felt like they thought I was royalty) and that in which they put themselves, portraying their need above all else. as someone trying to work against fostering dependency, this was hardly how I was hoping everything would go.

After the stay at the village, I returned to Nairobi for the start of my SIT study abroad program on health and community development. So far, the orientation's been great, and I've been really impressed with the staff and academic directors! They all have a wealth of information for the rest of us, and are incredibly approachable. Mykiswahili's getting much better very quickly (which isn't hard, considering I started not knowing anything) (turns out, hakuna matata really does mean "no worries").

In other news, I recently got set up with my homestay for my time here. I'm in Kibera (the area, not the slum, though it's only a 5 minute walk away) in a neighborhood called Woodley, which is really fairly nice. The apartment itself isn't anything too luxurious, but we do get water in the bathroom, and have fairly consistent plumming. Aaaaand, yesterday when everyone's power went out, we got ours back after an hour or so, while everyone else in the program apparently had to wait something like 7 hours. I live with my host mom, Mama Anna, and her daughter Velma, along with the househelp, Jess. Velma and Jess and I all share a room in the small flat, and we are occasionally joined by the husband/father when he isn't traveling for business or staying with his second wife/family, who apparently live in the same compound.

We don't have too much time to explore the city, and I'm still scheming ways to meet people my age and/or people I can play soccer with, but in general school's great, home's good, and most meals involve a substantial amount of mango, and tea (some of which even has relatively normal amounts of sugar). So, all-in-all, things are pretty great. ALSO, there is an abundance of indian food here, and I have learned to make a mean chapati.

In the meantime, ANY COMMUNICATION is greatly appreciated! Email, sms, facebook, even snail mail would be super, since I'll be here until Aug.

If you have gmail, you can send me texts for free, and I might even be able to respond! here's a link to show you how: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en_ke/sms.html#utm_campaign=en_ke&utm_source=bubble_ke&utm_medium=et&dc=bubble_ke
Also, if you send me your phone number, I can send you texts the same way...

Here's all the contact info you could want:

cell phone: +254726899540 (it's with safaricom)

email: tasharussman@gmail.com

snail mail: Tasha Russman c/o SIT Box 21752 Nairobi, 00505 Kenya

skype: Tasha.Russman

msn messenger: Tasha.Russman@hotmail.com


Tutaonana!
Tasha